A well rested Toronto Marlies took advantage of a weary Rochester Americans squad, jumping out to an early two goal lead and held on for a 4-3 win in front of 7137 fans at Ricoh Coliseum Saturday night.
The win was Toronto’s fourth in a row and third over their division rival in the last eight days.
Jake Gardiner scored two power play goals, Ryan Hamilton scored once and Nazem Kadri scored a goal and two assists.
Ben Scrivens made 32 saves for his eighth victory of the season and Toronto improved their record to 13-8-0-1 with the win.
Jonathan Parker scored twice and Luke Adam scored in the final minute for Rochester, who move to 10-9-2-0 with the loss.
The Amerks, who won a 6-5 shootout victory over Syracuse Friday night, started backup goalie Connor Knapp, who was making only his fourth appearance of the season. Toronto jumped out early as Kadri converted on a loose puck two and a half minutes in for his sixth of the season and fourth in his last three games. Just over three minutes later, Hamilton made it 2-0 with a backhander between Knapp’s pads for eighth goal of the year.
Midway through the second, the Marlies extended their lead to 4-0 as their power play kicked into gear with two tallies within 26 seconds of each other. The first goal came while Toronto was on a four-on-three advantage, as Kadri and Mike Kostka set up Gardiner for a point shot that beat Knapp. With Rochester captain Kevin Porter in the box for charging, Gardiner scored again on a blast that went just under the crossbar.
Parker replied with his first of the season, as a centering attempt went off a Marlies stick behind Scrivens.
Rochester made things interesting as Parker scored again late in the third and Luke Adam scored his third of the year with an extra attacker to narrow the lead to 4-3, but Toronto held on for the win, moving them to within four points of North Division leading Abbotsford, their opponents Sunday afternoon.
After the game, when asked about Gardiner by Leafs TV's Paul Hendrick, coach Dallas Eakins revealed that defenseman had experienced some ill effects after taking a high hit, which caused him to miss the third period.
"Jake got a hit to the head, it wasn't a real concussion state or anything like that, it was just not feeling quite right. With all of our players, we err on the side of caution and we'll reevaluate him later tonight and tomorrow."
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